Hi Wendy. The perfect WBC figure for a greyhound is 5.0 Do not be afraid to tell the vet this.
The perfect WBC for other breeds is around 11.0.
As a rule of thumb greyhounds are about half the count of other breeds.
Greyhounds have the richest blood of all canines which is why their blood is used for emergency dog transfusions. We've been asked to help several times in a dog's transfusion.
Jimmy.
When I first got John (now deceased), his WBC count was four, the vet advised a bone marrow test and I am sure it was Jimmy who told me about greyhound blood and I changed vet who had no concerns, in fact he told me the WBC count between 3.5-6.5 was perfectly normal whilst for other dogs it could range from 6-17.
Thanks George, Anji. I'm going to phone the vet tomorrow and cancel the next appointment but I will ask to speak to the vet rather than the receptionist to explain my reasons. Raven has only had the one tablet out of the 2nd lot of antibiotics, I'm not going to give her any more. I'm considering changing vet. I've not had any problems with them until now but the fact I challenged this several times and was still dismissed has angered me. The X-Ray's and surgery are performed at a different location to my routine appointments so it wasn't the vet we normally see who did the blood tests. I'll phone the regular one, hopefully she will be more aware of what the readings should be!